/*
 * Created on Feb 9, 2005
 * Created by Alon Rohter
 * Copyright (C) Azureus Software, Inc, All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 * as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
 * of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
 *
 */

package org.gudy.azureus2.plugins.messaging;

import java.nio.ByteBuffer;

/**
 * Basic peer message. A message is uniquely identified by the combination of ID and version.
 */
public interface Message {

    /**
     * Is a protocol-bearing message, i.e. messaging/overhead data.
     */
    public static final int TYPE_PROTOCOL_PAYLOAD = 0;

    /**
     * Is a data-bearing message, i.e. file data.
     */
    public static final int TYPE_DATA_PAYLOAD = 1;

    /**
     * Get message id.
     * 
     * @return id
     */
    public String getID();

    /**
     * Get message type.
     * 
     * @return type
     */
    public int getType();

    /**
     * Get textual description of this particular message.
     * 
     * @return description
     */
    public String getDescription();

    /**
     * Get message payload data.
     * 
     * @return message data buffers
     */
    public ByteBuffer[] getPayload();

    /**
     * Create a new instance of this message by decoding the given byte serialization.
     * 
     * @param data
     *            to deserialize
     * @return decoded message instance
     * @throws MessageException
     *             if the decoding process fails
     */
    public Message create(ByteBuffer data) throws MessageException;

    /**
     * Destroy the message; i.e. perform cleanup actions.
     */
    public void destroy();

}
